Dr. David Wright
Associate Professor

Office: ANNU 432A
Ext: 56751
Lab: ANNU 322

Profile/Research

During my undergraduate studies in the faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary I became fascinated with understanding how the body adapts to regularly performed exercise. These initial learning experiences prompted me to pursue graduate studies in exercise physiology first at Arizona State University for the completion of my MSc and then at Ball State University where I received my doctorate in Human Bioenergetics.

While a graduate student I had the good fortune of attending the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association. While at this conference I attended a symposium that highlighted the biochemical and signal transduction mechanisms involved in the regulation of muscle metabolism and gene expression. After listening to these fascinating series of lectures the proverbial “light bulb” was turned on.

After the completion of my PhD I was extremely lucky to secure a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. John Holloszy’s laboratory at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. During this time my research was focused on examining the biochemical pathways activated by exercise that lead to 1) increases in skeletal muscle glucose uptake and 2) enhanced skeletal muscle mitochondrial content. Towards the end of my postdoctoral fellowship several papers were published demonstrating that commonly prescribed anti-diabetic medications such as rosiglitazone can increase mitochondrial content in adipose tissue. While effective in improving insulin action these compounds have many unwanted side effects. Since we have known for over 4 decades that exercise increases mitochondrial density in skeletal muscle, I wondered if exercise would have the same effect in other tissues such as adipose, and if so, what mechanisms could be mediate this effect.

I was sponsored by the University of Alberta to submit a Scholar Award to the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research to pursue these questions. The application was successful and provided salary support as I took up an Assistant Professor position in the department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences. Over the next several years my laboratory investigated the effects of exercise and diet on adipose tissue function and metabolism, and in turn how these alterations, regulate skeletal muscle and whole body glucose homeostasis. I recently had the honor of being awarded a tier II Canada Research Chair in Lipids, Metabolism and Health in the department of HHNS which I took up in September 2010. My research continues to focus on the mechanisms which regulate the effects of diet and exercise on adipose tissue and skeletal muscle metabolism.

Education

BPE - University of Calgary
MS - Arizona State University
PhD - Ball State University

Selected Publications

Wan X, Thrush AB, Frier BC, Sutherland LN, Williams DB, Wright DC. Epinephrine Mediated Regulation of PDK4 mRNA in Rat Adipose Tissue Am J Physiol Cell Physiol doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00188.2010

Jacome-Sosa MM, Lu J, Ruth MR, Wright DC, Reaney MJ, Shen J, Field CJ, Vine DF, Proctor SD. Increased hypolipidemic benefits of cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid in combination with trans-11 vacenic acid in a rodent model of the metabolic syndrome, the JCR:LA-cp rat. Nutrition & Metabolism http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/7/1/60) 2010

Frier BC, Williams DB, Wright DC. The effects of apelin on skeletal muscle mitochondrial content. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. R1761-1768, 2009.

Wang Y, Jacome-Sosa MM, Ruth MR, Goruk SD, Reaney MJ, Glimm DR, Wright DC, Vine DF, Field CJ, Proctor SD. Novel hypolipidemic properties of trans-11 vaccenic acid are due to reduced hepatic lipogenesis and lower intestinal chylomicron secretion in the JCR:LA-cp rat. Journal of Nutrition 139: 2049-2054, 2009.

Williams D, Sutherland L, Bomof M, Basaraba S, Thrush AB, Dyck DJ, Field CJ, Wright DC. Muscle specific differences in the response of mitochondrial proteins to b-GPA feeding: An evaluation of potential mechanisms. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab . 296: 1400-1408, 2009.

Sutherland L, Bomof M, Capozzi L, Basaraba S, Wright DC. Exercise and epinephrine increase PGC-1 a mRNA expression in rat adipose tissue. J Physiol 587: 1607-1617, 2009.

Mullen KL, Pritchard J, Ritchie I, Snook LA, Chabowski A, Bonen A, Wright D, Dyck DJ. Adiponectin resistance precedes the accumulation of skeletal muscle lipids and insulin resistance in high fat fed rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 296: R243-51, 2009.

Sutherland LN, Capozzi LC , Turchinsky NJ , Bell RC, Wright DC. The time course of high fat diet induced reductions in adipose tissue mitochondrial proteins: Potential mechanisms and the relationship to glucose intolerance. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 295: 1076-1083, 2008.

Benton CR, Wright DC, Bonen A. PGC-1 a mediated regulation of gene expression and metabolism: implications for nutrition and exercise prescriptions. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 33: 843-862, 2008.

Hancock CR, Han DH, Chen M, Terada S, Yasuda T, Wright DC, Holloszy JO. High fat diets cause insulin resistance despite an increase in muscle mitochondria. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105: 7815-7820, 2008.

Thrush AB, Heigenhauser G, Mullen K, Wright DC, Dyck DD. Palmitate acutely induces insulin resistance in isolated muscle from obese but not lean humans. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 294: R1197-R1204, 2008

Wright DC, Sutherland L . Antioxidant supplementation in the treatment of skeletal muscle insulin resistance: potential mechanisms and clinical relevance. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 33: 21-31, 2008.

Teaching

NUTR*4210 Nutrition, Exercise and Energy Metabolism

Graduatet Students

M-S. Beaudoin (PhD student)
L. Castellani (MSc student)
A. Stefanson (MSc student)